Washington Security Deposit Law: The Deadline Is 30 Days, Not 21
The return deadline changed in 2023 and a lot of published guidance never caught up, including a well known state consumer page. Here is the current rule, plus the checklist requirement that decides whether you could collect a deposit at all.
This page is general information, not legal advice. We are property managers, not attorneys. Washington deposit rules changed recently and can change again, and the answer for your property may depend on facts this page does not know. Confirm anything that matters with a Washington attorney.
Reviewed: September 2026.
Start with the correction
The deadline to return a security deposit in Washington is 30 days. It is set by RCW 59.18.280. It used to be 21 days. That changed in 2023.
Almost every source that has not been rewritten since then still says 21 days. That includes the Washington Attorney General’s own consumer information page, which is stale on this point.
We are not pointing that out to score a point. We are pointing it out because it creates a real and specific problem. A tenant reads an official-looking page, counts 21 days, and sends you a demand letter on day 22. Or a landlord reads the same page, assumes 21 days is a hard deadline, rushes a statement out with guesses in it, and creates a different problem.
Use 30 days. If someone quotes 21 at you, the citation you want is RCW 59.18.280.
Is there a cap on how much you can collect?
Not statewide. Washington sets no cap on the size of a residential security deposit.
Cities can, and Tacoma does. If your property is inside Tacoma city limits, skip ahead to the Tacoma section, because the total move-in number is capped at one month’s rent and it includes more than the deposit.
The move-in checklist is not optional
This is the rule that decides whether you were ever allowed to hold the money.
RCW 59.18.260 requires a written checklist of the unit’s condition, signed by both parties, before any deposit may be collected.
Read the order of operations there. The checklist comes first. The deposit comes second. A landlord who collects a deposit without a signed move-in condition checklist has collected a deposit they were not permitted to collect.
That is the consequence to plan around. Every disagreement about a deposit deduction two years later runs back through this document. Without it, you are arguing about the condition of a unit at move-in with no signed record of what that condition was, and you are doing it from a starting position where you were not entitled to hold the deposit in the first place.
Practical version: no signed checklist, no deposit. Do it at move-in, in writing, signed by both parties, with photographs attached.
Where the money has to sit
RCW 59.18.270 requires deposits to be held in a trust account at a Washington financial institution or with a licensed escrow agent, and it requires written notice to the tenant of where the deposit is held.
Two things follow from that. The deposit is not operating money and it does not belong in your personal or business checking account. And the notice of the depository is a separate obligation from holding the funds correctly. Doing one without the other is a partial job.
What you have to send back, and what has to be in it
Within 30 days of the end of the tenancy, RCW 59.18.280 requires:
That third item is the one owners skip. A line that says “carpet cleaning, $250” with nothing behind it is not an itemized statement supported by estimates or invoices. If you do not have the invoice yet, an estimate is acceptable, and getting an estimate takes less time than defending the deduction later.
The refund of whatever is not lawfully withheld, and
A full itemized statement of what was withheld, and
Estimates or paid invoices supporting the amounts.
Ordinary wear and tear
What we will say from experience, not from statute: the disputes we see are almost never about whether a wall was damaged. They are about whether anyone documented what the wall looked like on move-in day. That is a checklist problem, and it is solvable.
The penalty for withholding a deposit you should have returned
Until that is confirmed, the honest and accurate statement to publish is this: withholding a deposit you were not entitled to withhold exposes you to a claim by the tenant, and the surest protection is a signed move-in checklist, a trust account, and an itemized statement sent inside 30 days with estimates or invoices attached.
The other money you collect at move-in
A security deposit is rarely the only thing collected at the start of a tenancy, and each of the others has its own rule.
Holding deposits
RCW 59.18.253 caps a holding deposit at 25 percent of the first month’s rent. Waiting list fees are unlawful.
Non-refundable fees
Under RCW 59.18.285, a non-refundable fee may not be called a deposit, and it must be set out in a written rental agreement.
This is the most common paperwork mistake we see. A “non-refundable cleaning deposit” is a contradiction. Calling a fee a deposit makes it a deposit, which makes it refundable and subject to the deposit rules. Name it a fee, describe what it covers, and put it in the written agreement.
Installment rights
RCW 59.18.610 gives the tenant a right you have to honor on written request. Deposits, non-refundable fees and last month’s rent must be payable in installments:
3 equal monthly installments for leases of 3 months or longer.
2 installments for shorter leases.
You may not charge a fee or interest because the tenant chose installments.
You are not required to offer installments if the combined deposits and non-refundable fees are 25 percent or less of the first month’s rent and you are not requiring last month’s rent.
Pet deposits and pet rent
There is no statewide cap on pet deposits or pet rent. SB 6064 in 2024 died in committee. Two things still constrain you. Pet rent is a recurring charge, so it counts inside the HB 1217 rent cap covered on our Washington rent increase law page. And assistance animals are not pets, which is a fair housing question, not a pet policy question. See our Washington fair housing rules page.
If your rental is inside Tacoma city limits
Tacoma changes the arithmetic completely, and this is where most Tacoma owners are unknowingly out of compliance.
TMC 1.100.040 caps the total move-in cost at the first month’s rent. Total means the security deposit plus non-refundable fees plus screening fees, added together.
So a common structure like “one month’s rent as a deposit, plus a $300 non-refundable fee, plus a $50 per adult screening fee” is over the cap inside Tacoma, because the deposit alone already uses the entire allowance.
Pet damage deposits are separately capped at 25 percent of one month’s rent, and that deposit is refundable to the extent it exceeds actual pet damage.
Remember which code this sits in. TMC 1.100 is the Landlord Fairness Code Initiative, passed by Tacoma voters in November 2023, and it is enforced only by private lawsuit. The City will not send you a warning letter. Penalties under TMC 1.100.080(2) run from not less than $500 up to five times the monthly rent per violation, plus injunctive relief.
Our full Tacoma rental housing code guide covers how TMC 1.95 and TMC 1.100 fit together.
Deposits are the single most common source of a landlord tenant dispute, and almost all of it is preventable with three documents: a signed move-in checklist, a written agreement that names fees correctly, and an itemized statement sent inside 30 days.
If you would like us to look at how your deposits are being collected and held, book a property management consult or call 253.222.3387. We hold tenant security deposits for the properties we manage, and we will walk you through exactly how it works.
Washington security deposit questions
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Thirty days from the end of the tenancy, under RCW 59.18.280. It changed from 21 days in 2023, and many sources including the Attorney General’s consumer page still show the old number. The refund has to come with a full itemized statement of anything withheld, supported by estimates or paid invoices.
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There is no statewide cap. Cities may set one. Inside Tacoma, TMC 1.100.040 caps the total move-in cost at the first month’s rent, counting the security deposit, non-refundable fees and screening fees together, and separately caps a pet damage deposit at 25 percent of one month’s rent.
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No. RCW 59.18.260 requires a written checklist of the unit’s condition, signed by both parties, before any deposit may be collected. The checklist comes first and the deposit comes second. Without it you have no signed record of move-in condition, which is where nearly every later deduction dispute is decided.
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In a trust account at a Washington financial institution or with a licensed escrow agent, under RCW 59.18.270. You also have to give the tenant written notice of where the deposit is held. It is not operating money and it does not belong in a personal or general business account.
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Yes, on written request. RCW 59.18.610 requires deposits, non-refundable fees and last month’s rent to be payable in 3 equal monthly installments for leases of 3 months or more, or 2 for shorter leases, with no fee or interest for choosing installments. This does not apply if combined deposits and non-refundable fees are 25 percent or less of first month’s rent and no last month’s rent is required.
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Not under that name. RCW 59.18.285 says a non-refundable fee may not be called a deposit and must be in a written rental agreement. Calling a fee a deposit makes it refundable and subject to the deposit rules. Name it a fee, describe what it covers, and get it into the written agreement before move-in.
Have a question about your own property?
If you take one thing from this page, make it the checklist. A signed move-in condition checklist with photographs prevents more disputes than any lease clause we have ever seen.
If you want to talk through your own deposit process, we are here Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm, and we reply within 24 hours.
Red Roof Rentals & Real Estate, 14208 Pacific Ave., Unit #2, Tacoma, WA 98444. 253.222.3387.
This page is general information, not legal advice, and deposit rules change. The 30 day deadline itself is a recent change. Confirm anything that matters with a Washington attorney.